Today’s top tech news, September 18: France and Singapore to boost ecosystem ties

Also,Yusaku Maezawa, Founder of Japanese online fashion retailer Zozo to be first SpaceX passenger, DocPrime raises US$50 million, and more France and Singapore to boost ecosystem ties – [press release] Enterprise Singapore and Bpifrance, a French agency that provides assistance and financial support to French companies, are calling for proposals on joint innovation projects in […]
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Also,Yusaku Maezawa, Founder of Japanese online fashion retailer Zozo to be first SpaceX passenger, DocPrime raises US$50 million, and more

France and Singapore to boost ecosystem ties – [press release]

Enterprise Singapore and Bpifrance, a French agency that provides assistance and financial support to French companies, are calling for proposals on joint innovation projects in technological areas such as advanced manufacturing, cleantech and medtech.

The two entities will provide funding support for jointly selected projects. To qualify, the project consortium must have at least one company from each of the participating countries. Interested parties can sign up here.

Currently, several French startups have already set up their regional headquarters in Singapore. They include Kpler, Metron Lab and Finalcad. Similarly, Singapore startup H3 Dynamics has established their European headquarters in France.

Singapore’s Global Innovation Alliance (GIA) in Paris, which was launched in July 2018, aims to strengthen economic linkages and facilitate closer interaction between the startup and innovation ecosystems in Singapore and France.

Indonesian online payment giant OVO has today announced it has appointed Budi Kusmiantoro as Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

Kusmiantoro was the former VP of Engineering of Indonesian online travel platform Traveloka. Before that Budi worked in Silicon Valley and held leadership positions as a senior engineering manager at Google and as team architect at Paypal.

Besides signing on Kusmiantoro, OVO also recently expanded its leadership team with hires from companies such as Facebook, Visa, Grab, Lippo, Commonwealth Bank, and MoneyGram.

Founder of Japanese online fashion retailer, Yusaku Maezawa, to be SpaceX’s first passenger – [Reuters]

Yusaku Maezawa, the billionaire founder of Japanese online fashion platform Zozo is set to become the first private passenger of Elon Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX.

Maezawa will be strapped into the rocket which will take him on a journey to the moon and back. He will take the trip on 2023 aboard SpaceX’s upcoming Big Falcon Rocket spaceship.

Indian doctor consultation platform DocPrime has raised US$50 million in funding, according to a report by TechCrunch.

The investment was provided by Indian digital insurance startup PolicyBazaar. DocPrime will use the newly-raised funding to expand to major cities such as , Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai. It aims to grow its network to 150,000 doctors and 20,000 labs.

Launched in August, DocPrime lets patients book consultations and medical tests with doctors.

Vietnamese logistics startup EcoTruck raises US$1.7 million – [e27]

Vietnam-based B2B logistics startup EcoTruck has bagged US$1.7 million in a Pre-Series A round from investors including Access Ventures, FuturePlay, Nextran, Viet Capital Ventures and three angel investors.

EcoTruck will use the funding to improve its logistics platform and expand its team.

The company uses data analytics, GPS, and a transparent online bidding system to help merchants lower their logistic costs and reduce truck freight load wastage on the transportation end.